Bohol Third District Rep. Alexie Tutor has expressed support for President Rodrigo Duterte’s stand to not allow students to go back to school unless a vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID) 2019 is made available to them.
Tutor, who is vice chair of the House of Representative’s committee on health, said she does not want children to be put in danger of contracting the highly contagious virus due to in-person classes.
“I support the President’s stand. Lisod na og apil mga bata ma compromise,” she said.
The legislator said that classes may resume if the government and schools are able to prepare “flexible” and blended learning arrangements.
However, she also acknowledged that some families would not have access to devices needed for alternative types of learning, saying that the issue needs to be addressed first by concerned agencies.
“If ok ang dagan sa flexible learning and blended learning, that is to be reconsidered as well. [But] not all have the gadgets and most do not have the luxury to buy these gadgets and devices, og di pa ready, then we have to move the date of the opening,” Tutor said.
After airing his stance against reopening of schools, Duterte has since expressed support for the Department of Education’s push for blended or distance learning for classes to resume even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking before the Inter-Agency Task Force, Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones assured the President and the public that alternative ways of learning will be adapted “until physical attendance in school is determined to be safe,” meaning face-to-face classes will not be held in August.
“What we are saying Mr. President is that, we fully and completely support your stand that our children should not be exposed to the dangers of COVID-19 physically but we are offering opportunities for them to continue their studies and learnings,” Briones said.
Children across the nation are due to resume classes on August 24 after these were shut down for millions of primary and secondary students in mid-March, when the contagion took off in the country. (RT)